Maryland Travels to North Carolina, NC State

Maryland Athletics

10-24-2013

Maryland (11-9, 3-5 ACC) travels south to North Carolina this weekend as it takes on 14th-ranked North Carolina and North Carolina State in weekend action. The Terrapins and Tar Heels will square off in the Dean E. Smith Center at 5:00 p.m. as a prelude to North Carolina's version of Midnight Madness. Maryland will then take on North Carolina State the following night at 5:00 p.m.

Promotion Schedule

The Maryland athletics marketing department has put together a fantastic promotional schedule for fans of all ages this season! Check out the list below for all promotions (time/date subject to change.) Posters and schedule cards will be available at every match!

Scouting the Terps

The Terps recovered from a disappointing loss to Syracuse by defeating Boston College in straight sets Sunday in Comast Pavilion. Maryland was on fire offensively, hitting .301 for the match as it committed just 11 errors in the victory.

Maryland was led by Mary Cushman's 13 kills (.387 pct.) in the Boston College match, while freshman Whitney Craigo had a career-high 16 assists alongside Amy Dion's 19 assists.

Adreene Elliott played well in both weekend matches, tallying just five errors over the course of 42 attacks (20 kills). Elliott had a .429 hitting percentage against Boston College.

Scouting the Tar Heels

No. 14 North Carolina has been the class of the ACC thus far in 2013, dropping just one game on the season. The Tar Heels recovered from a loss to Duke two weekends ago by defeating Virginia and Virginia Tech on the road last weekend.

The Tar Heels have been succesful across the board with fantastic team play this season. They do not have a single player in the top-four in any major statsistical categories, yet they rank in the top-3 in six categories as a team. They are among the best in aces (1.56/s), assists (13.67/s) and kills (14.67/s).

North Carolina holds a sizeable advantage in the all-time series, 40-23. The Terps have struggled mightily in Chapel Hill, last winning at UNC on September 27, 1997.

Scouting the Wolfpack

Despite falling to Virginia Tech in straight sets last weekend, the Wolfpack have won six of their last seven contests heading into this weekend's action. N.C. State was held to a .147 hitting percentage in their loss to the Hokies.

Senior Brie Merriwether has been one of the best blockers in the ACC this season, tallying 80 blocks (1.27/s). Meanwhile, Alston Kearns ranks fourth in the conference in digs with 4.43/s.

Although the Terps have fallen to the Wolfpack in two of their last three meetings, Maryland leads the all-time series by a count of 44-20.

Block Party

Head coach Tim Horsmon and the Terrapins made it a goal at the start of the season to be one of the top conference teams defensively in 2013 and the results have shown. As of the latest ACC statistical rankings, Maryland ranks first in blocks per set with 2.75.

Key to the success has been the middle play of sophomore Kelsey Hrebenach and freshman Ashlyn MacGregor. The pair rank fifth (1.24) and sixth (1.23) in the conference respectively in blocks. Additionally, Sarah Harper is first in the ACC in digs (4.85).

Digging Deep

Senior Sarah Harper rarely grabs the headlines for her dirty work on defense, but the libero has been nothing short of consistent this season for the Terps. Harper recently surpassed the 1,500 career digs mark, and currently ranks fourth in Maryland history with 1,563.

Harper leads the ACC with 4.85 digs/s and is just 105 digs away from the Maryland all-time record.

Moving Up

With her 10th and final kill against Miami, senior Mary Cushman surpassed Elizabeth Efron ('95-'97) for fifth all-time on the Maryland career kills list. Cushman currently has 1,211 kills to her name.

If Cushman continues to collect kills at her current rate, she will likely finish fourth all-time in Maryland history.

Hreben-Block

Sophomore Kelsey Hrebenach tallied 12 blocks (1s, 11a) in the Terps' four-set victory over Virginia, becoming the first Maryland player to accomplish the feat since 2011. The mark is the highest this season in the conference for a four-set match.

Maryland had 31 blocks as a team last weekend, including 18 against Virginia. The 18 blocks is a season-high for the Terps.

Conference Honors

Freshman Ashlyn MacGregor was named ACC Freshman of the Week last week for career-best efforts against Virginia and Virginia Tech. It is MacGregor's first career conference honor.

The freshman had a memorable weekend at the net, hitting at a .447 clip with 20 kills and 11 blocks over the course of two matches. MacGregor's 12 kills against Virginia Tech were a career-high.

Head Coach Tim Horsmon

Tim Horsmon is in his sixth season in charge of the Maryland volleyball team and earned his 300th career victory against Georgia Tech earlier this season. All three coaches in Maryland volleyball history garner at least 300 career victories.

Climing the Record Books

Career Digs

Nicole Lantagne - 1,668 (1990-93)

Maggie Schmelzle - 1,597 (2005-08)

Beth Gillming - 1,582 (2004-07)

Sarah Harper - 1,563 (2010-pres.)

Colleen Hurley - 1,337 (1989-91)

Career Kills

Carey Brennan - 1,585 (1999-02)

Lynnsy Jones - 1,390 (2000-03)

Jade Brown - 1,388 (2004-07)

Collen Hurley - 1,238 (1989-91)

Mary Cushman - 1,211 (2010-pres.)

Service Aces - Harper, 99 (t-7th)

Reaching 1,000

Senior Mary Cushman eclipsed 1,000 career kills against UMKC on September 6, joining an elite club of Maryland volleyball players. The senior outside hitter finished the weekend with 33 kills and earned tournament MVP honors the following weekend. She is one of just eight players in Maryland history to record at least 1,100 kills and 600 digs.

Fresh Faces

Chavi St. Hill was the latest Maryland freshman to make her collegiate debut, making an appearance against nationally ranked Ohio on September 20.

Alex Brown and Jessica Ward made their Terrapin debuts during the Maryland Invitational. Brown made her collegiate debut against LIU in the first game on September 7, while Ward appeared against Penn in the tournament finale.

Along with Julia Anderson and Ashlyn MacGregor, the Terps have debuted four new members of the 2013 squad.

2013 Maryland Record...

Maryland

Tendency

Overall Record

11-9

Home

9-2

Away

1-3

Neutral

1-3

ACC Record

3-5

ACC Record at Home

3-3

ACC Record on Road

0-2

2012 NCAA Tournament Teams

1-3

Ranked Teams

0-3

In Three Sets

6-6

In Four Sets

2-1

In Five Sets

3-2

On Tuesday

0-0

On Wednesday

0-0

On Thursday

0-0

On Friday

5-4

On Saturday

5-2

On Sunday

1-3

When Winning Set 1

6-2

When Losing Set 1

3-6

When Winning Set 2

5-0

When Losing Set 2

3-8

When Winning Set 3

9-2

When Losing Set 3

0-6

When Winning Set 4

3-1

When Losing Set 4

1-2

Leading in Kills

8-3

Trailing in Kills

3-6

Tied in Kills

0-0

Leading in Errors

0-7

Trailing in Errors

11-2

Tied in Errors

0-0

Leading in Hitting Pct.

11-1

Trailing in Hitting Pct.

0-8

Tied in Hitting Pct.

0-0

Hitting .300 or better

3-0

Hitting .250-.299

2-0

Hitting .200-.249

4-3

Hitting .150-.199

1-3

Hitting .149 or below

1-5

Opponent Hit .300 or better

0-0

Opponent Hit .250-.299

0-2

Opponent Hit .200-.249

1-1

Opponent Hit .150-.199

2-3

Opponent Hit .149 or below

7-0

Leading in Service Aces

6-1

Trailing in Service Aces

2-5

Tied in Service Aces

3-3

Leading in Digs

6-2

Trailing in Digs

4-7

Tied in Digs

1-0

Leading in Blocks

9-3

Trailing in Blocks

1-4

Tied in Blocks

1-2

Media InformationTerps on the Web: For up-to-date game stories, statistics, schedules and results, and other Maryland athletic department information, please log-on to umterps.com.

Live Stats: Follow Terps games live in 2013 on your computer. Links for all games that will be available can be found at umterps.com.